Solar Power First

  Yes, you did read that title correctly! A major financial research company has claimed that it is now cheaper to build an entirely new solar facility than to persist with a coal or natural gas plant in many locations. That seems like quite the claim, but BloombergNEF has stated with confidence that within the next five years, it will actually be more costly to operate existing coal or natural gas power plants than it will be to construct a new solar or wind energy facility. This is supported by a recent report from the International Energy Agency which found that solar energy will soon replace coal as the cheapest source of electricity. The IEA’s World Energy Outlook has stated that solar energy is going to be at the forefront of a huge increase in renewables over the next decade, with up to 80% of the world’s electricity likely to be sourced through renewables in the not too distant future. With solar technology constantly improving, as well as solar panel cost continuing to be...

Tesla has been a popular option in the solar world since its first forays into the industry. Obviously they came in with a lot of fanfare, not least due to the profile of their founder Elon Musk, but it seems for the most part they have really followed through with the quality and reliability of their products. With this success at play, they have recently increased the price of the Powerwall, their signature home battery pack, due to the fact that it is still in huge demand. In addition to Tesla’s strong reputation, there appear to be a few key factors at work presently that are adding to the demand for home solar storage. One key reason is that electric grids across the US are having their stability challenged by heatwaves, in some cases leading to power blackouts such as in California. An increasing number of homeowners are going with home battery packs in order to ensure they can access backup power. This increased demand has led Tesla to prioritise Powerwall installations as part ...

  A new report, produced by the Environment America Research & Policy Center and entitled “Renewables on the Rise 2020,” has found that the US produces 30-times as much solar energy in 2019 as it did in 2010. Now that’s a trend we can get behind! The report actually documents the developments within several of the clean energy industries over the past 10 years: solar, wind, battery storage, energy efficiency and electric vehicles. A key factor in the growth in renewable energy utilisation has been the adoption of battery storage, with improved technology and reduced smart battery cost seeing a 20-fold increase since 2010. Even further benefit comes in the fact that energy consumption per person has actually declined in the US over the past decade thanks to increased energy efficiency, including more than one million electric vehicles on US roads. Susan Rakov, the current chair of Environment America Research and Policy Center’s Clean Energy program, shared: “People have always...

  Yes, you read that right, Australia is set to build the world’s biggest solar facility, then transport the solar power over to Singapore. How is that possible, you may ask. Well, part of the whopping AUD$20bn being pumped into the project, which is spread across a space the size of 20,000 football fields, will go on constructing the planet’s longest submarine power cable, with the equipment able to export the electricity from the Australian outback all the way to Singapore via a 4,500km high-voltage direct current (HVDC) network. David Griffin, CEO of Sun Cable, spoke on the impact of this ambitious project, saying; “It is extraordinary technology that is going to change the flow of energy between countries. It is going to have profound implications and the extent of those implications hasn't been widely identified. If you have the transmission of electricity over very large distances between countries, then the flow of energy changes from liquid fuels – oil and LNG – to electron...

It is being widely reported that solar will form a key part of the Government’s soon-to-be-announced Net Zero Strategy, a comprehensive document laying out a number of environmental targets. This much-anticipated Net Zero Strategy will be unveiled in tandem with the Energy White Paper, a document that it is hoped will map out a course for the UK’s green energy aims. The document was first hoped to be published in mid-2019, but is yet to arrive, with government statements suggesting a late-2020 release. It is expected that these two documents will offer details on the exact place that solar and storage will play in the UK’s steps towards being Net Zero by 2050. We will certainly be reading the papers - or at least a summary of the key highlights! - with interest once they are released, with recent reports suggesting that the Government will need to significantly increase its annual solar capacity in order to get anywhere near its Net Zero targets. This cautious optimism is echoed by Chr...

  The use of solar energy is gaining pace around the world, with countries such as China, Japan and the US seemingly announcing solar projects on a weekly basis. Any solar installation that will make a positive environmental impact is great to see, but it's particularly notable when it’s an emerging solar nation taking their first significant steps towards utilising solar energy within their borders. That’s why the recent project unveiled in Chile came as a particularly enjoyable piece of news, particularly as it will not only be Chile’s first major solar storage project, but it is also likely to be the largest in Latin America so far. The project, established by AES Gener, is a 112MW / 560MWh battery storage project which will be storing energy generated from local solar and wind facilities. Spanning much of the length of South America from its position on the west coast of the continent, Chile offers a variety of locations that could be ideal for solar projects, so with increasin...

We’re always up for hearing new ideas of how to raise the efficiency even further, and with available land at a premium in many places, finding efficient ways in which to create space for solar facilities is almost as important as making sure the solar generation itself is efficient.  With the shortage of land, could there have been an alternative staring us in the face the whole time? Could we put them on water?  This is what is starting to happen across Asia with floating solar panels popping up on lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. The benefits of this could actually extend much further than we realised, with a new study published in Renewable Energy suggesting that floating solar farms at current hydropower reservoirs could not only reduce solar costs, but meet anywhere up to 40% of the planet’s energy needs. Reservoirs are being put forward by many as the top option, over using lakes or ponds, for a couple of key reasons. First, the solar power equipment could make use of the...

Today we bring you news of a promising new design opportunity that could revolutionise the future of solar panel production. We hope you’re as excited as we are! At present, figures show that around 90% of all solar panels across the world are manufactured using crystalline silicon, a material which has been established for decades. Research suggests that they tend to convert between 15% and 25% of the sunlight they receive into electricity. The current options, while offering many benefits, tend to weigh anywhere from 20 to 30kgs per square metre, making them a significant undertaking to install safely onto their usual placement on building roofs.   While these silicon-based solar panels are pretty much standard across the world at present, recent supports suggest that a new form of ‘organic plastic’ solar panels could soon offer a much lighter and more flexible option that could be effectively ‘printed’ onto buildings, or even placed in windows or on vehicles. This would offer a...

An exciting new business development in the North West of England has made solar energy generation a centrepiece of its recently unveiled site. What a perfect combination! More than 1,000 solar panels have been installed at the new £35m EG Group headquarters in Blackburn, making it one of the most environmentally-friendly buildings in the country. The four-storey building with views over Fishmoor Reservoir in Haslingden Road took three years to complete and takes up 130,000 square feet of space.  The new offices can accommodate up to 700 staff, and it is believed to be the largest commercial building project of its kind in the region. Huddersfield-based U Energy Solar said the building has been designed with ‘energy savings and carbon offsetting’ at its core. The steel frame structure encompasses triple skinned composite panelled walls, designed and cladded by Leach Structural Steelwork based in Garstang, which helps with heating and cooling. Double glazed reflective coated window...

Once again, we’re excited to bring you news of a positive solar innovation, this time from down under! Aggreko have recently announced that they will be offering a new solar rental scheme to residents across Australia, a programme which will provide consumers with a 1MW option that doesn’t include any long-term financial or technical tie-ins.  Aggreko are suggesting that deployment time for the project is three to four months, with contract duration starting at five years, allowing homeowners to get a good long look at the benefits of solar without making a full commitment in terms of their own complete purchase.   The system that is being offered will have low operations and maintenance needs, integrating with Aggreko’s battery storage and thermal generators. The entire process will be managed by intelligent software, all utilising one central control system. This hybrid system is highly efficient, lowering carbon footprint, something that Aggreko are not just offering to oth...

  A new whitepaper - recently released by the leading consultancy firm Atkins - has suggested that the UK will need to deploy 80GW of solar, in addition to 20-30GW of battery storage, in order to meet its net zero target, a target it is currently falling well short of. We are always interested in projections with regards to how the solar industry in the UK is currently performing, so to see such a stark need for further solar panel installations and smart battery storage across the UK definitely caught our eye. The news was particularly notable as it made direct reference to the UK’s net zero target, a key aim for the government given their 2019 step of becoming the first major economy to declare they want to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. While the UK has managed to reduce 1990 levels by 42% thus far, it is useful at times to have some constructive critique alongside the success stories, so the Atkins findings could provide a sobering and, hopefully, moti...

  Any time a new solar innovation is unveiled, or even hinted at, it is likely to catch our attention! Given this fact, we had to put pen to paper - or should that be fingers to keys? - when it came to sharing the news of potential solar panel trucks making their way across Sweden, and in time, possibly the world! The news came out recently that Swedish commercial vehicle manufactures Scania AB is going to be taking part in a joint research venture that will see them get to work on developing a solar panel-covered trailer that is designed to power a plug-in hybrid truck. This upcoming project, which will involve the team at Scania joining forces with trucking company Ernst Express AB, is a definite step forward for solar development. The project will also receive input from thin-film solar tech developer Midsummer AB, electric utility Dalakraft AB and the Uppsala University. Additionally the Swedish government’s innovation agency Vinnova will be putting its support towards the pro...

With recent reports of an uptick in homes making use of the Smart Export Guarantee, even amongst COVID restrictions, we thought we’d take a brief look at what the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) actually is and how it could benefit you, whether you already have a solar battery installation, or are looking into contacting a solar supplier in the UK to add solar to your home. We’ve gathered some information from Ofgem and some of the leading solar suppliers in the UK to answer some of the key questions related to the SEG and how it works. When did the Smart Export Guarantee start? In the UK, the Smart Export Guarantee came into effect on 1st January 2020. Which energy sources does the Smart Export Guarantee cover? The SEG is open to anyone who has installed - up to a capacity of 5MW - technologies including: - Solar photovoltaic (solar PV) - Wind - Hydro What are the key features of the Smart Export Guarantee for solar? - The SEG states that energy suppliers are required to provi...

One area we are particularly interested in is with regards to new innovations within the solar industry. Usually these come from the major solar companies, other times they come from research labs at major universities, and then occasionally, they come from random Reddit users. Today is a day for the latter, and lesser-spotted, occurrence. The Reddit user in question is named BeepBoopWhat and his intriguing idea caught our eye. Planning the monthly bills is a key task for any individual or family, with our energy bills liable to be one of the most significant of those bills, particularly as we approach winter here in the UK. Having a handle on exactly what we are likely to spend is a useful insight for solar energy users, which is why we were so excited to hear that this individual’s idea proposed making use of a Raspberry Pi in order to monitor solar panels and calculate a detailed projection on their expected monthly impact on our energy bills. How would it work? In terms of exactly...

A recent study carried out by a researcher at the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs has found that over the past decade, around 20% airports in the USA have adopted the use of solar panels . This is a really encouraging step, particularly in a country that has been mixed in recent times on its approach to climate-related matters, but this assessment of 488 public airports suggests that many of them are committed to positive steps in terms of their utilisation of renewable energy. The researcher in question, Serena Kim PhD, interestingly found that those airports under the oversight of general-purpose governments - whether at city, state or county level - have actually adopted solar panel use at a higher rate than special-purpose governments such as port or airport authorities.  Serena Kim also found that while airports linked to professional organisations are more likely to have added solar, this is strongly linked to airport governance, with factors such as hi...

When it comes to solar panels, as far as we’re concerned, the more efficient the better! There’s no doubt that solar generation has become far more efficient in recent years, not least because of the widespread adoption of solar battery storage allowing users to utilise their solar energy exactly when they need it. But what about the efficiency of the solar panels themselves? There have certainly been advances in solar panel technology, both in terms of offering high-performance panels for cheaper, and employing new designs to elevate the potential of panels in terms of generation. Along these lines, one recent study from academics at the University of York found that one key design change could actually improve solar panel efficiency by up to 125% The design change in question? Checkerboard! The research team at the University of York had the aim of investigating exactly how different surface designs would impact on the ability of solar cells in terms of their absorption of sunlight. ...